1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door locking apparatus of automobile, and more particularly to a door locking apparatus of an automobile adapted to simplify the structure of a link means forming a locking apparatus of a tailgate of the automobile to improve assembly workability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, an automobile is equipped with hinged doors for passengers to get in and to get off therethrough and for cargoes to be loaded and unloaded. One of the doors called a tailgate of life-up type is widely adopted as a rear door of a hatchback style vehicle.
Meanwhile, a locking apparatus at the tailgate includes, as illustrated in FIG. 1, an inner handle 12 and an outer handle 14 respectively mounted at an inner and an outer side of the tailgate 10, a latch 16 for changing a lock-up state of the tailgate 10 to a releaseable state according to manipulation of inner and outer handles 12 and 14, and first and second link means 18 and 20 for transferring a manipulating force applied from the inner and outer handles 12 and 14 to the latch 16.
The locking apparatus of the tailgate 10 further includes a locking knob 22 protruded to a lower portion of a door glass 11 to manipulatively maintain a lock-up state of the latch 16 inside an automobile, third link means 24 for transferring the manipulating force applied to the locking knob 22 to the latch 16 and a key assembly 26 for controlling an operation of the third link means 24 at outside of the automobile to operate the latch 16.
At this time, the first link means 18 for connecting the inner handle 12 to the latch 16 to transfer the manipulating force applied to the inner handle 12 to the latch 16 and the second link means 20 for connecting the outer handle 14 to the latch 16 to transfer the manipulating force applied to the outer handle 14 to the latch 16 have the same structure except that they are directed in the opposite direction.
In other words, the first link means 18 and the second link means 20 are respectively formed with a first rod 28 for being connected to the inner handle 12 and the outer handle 14, a movable member 32 for connecting the first rod 28 at one end thereof and for connecting at the other end thereof a second rod 30 coupled to the latch 16 and a fixing member 34 fixed to the tailgate 10 for rotatably mounting the movable member 32 as illustrated in FIG. 2. The movable member 32 and the fixing member 34 are axially coupled each via a rotary shaft 33, such that the movable member 32 can be rotatably mounted on the fixing member 34 via the rotary shaft 33.
The fixing member 34 is integrally formed at a tip end thereof with protruders 35, each one facing the other, to restrict the rotating angle of the movable member 32.
Unexplained reference numerals 28a and 30a in the drawing are attachment members for fixing the first and second rod 28 and 30 to the movable member 32.
When the tailgate 10 is to be opened inside the automobile, the inner handle 12 is manipulated to pull the first rod 28 at the first link means 18 and to rotate the movable member 32 axially supported by the fixing member 34 according to manipulating force applied to the first rod 28. Successively, the second rod 30 is pushed by the rotation of the movable member 32 and the latch 16 is activated by the manipulating force according to the push of the second rod 30 to open the tailgate 10.
At this time, the protruder 35 at the fixing member 34 applies a restriction to a certain degree to the movable member 32 rotating about the rotary shaft 33. This is because the second rod 30 pulled via the first link means by the manipulating force applied to the first rod 28 is forcibly restricted in its moving distance to thereby prevent the latch 16 from receiving an excessive manipulating force.
Furthermore, even when the tailgate 10 is to be opened from outside of the automobile, operations described above are repeated to open the tailgate 10.
However, there is a problem in the locking apparatus of tailgate 10 thus described according to the prior art in that the manipulating force applied to the inner handle 12 or the outer handle 14 is transmitted via the first link means 18 or the second link means 20 to the latch 16, making component parts, especially the link member, complicated in construction thereof. This kind of problem may complicate work process and increase manufacturing cost in installing a locking apparatus when the tailgate 10 is assembled.
The present invention is disclosed to solve the aforementioned problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a door locking apparatus of an automobile adapted to enable transmittal of the manipulating force applied respectively from an inner handle and an outer handle to a latch through one link member, thereby simplifying parts comprising the locking apparatus of a tailgate. It is another object of the present invention to provide a door locking apparatus of an automobile adapted to shorten the process when a tailgate is assembled and to reduce manufacturing cost.
In accordance with one object of the present invention, there is provided a door locking apparatus of automobile, the apparatus comprising:
an inner handle mounted inside of a door of the automobile;
an outer handle mounted outside of a door of the automobile;
a locking device for releaseably locking the door; and
link means having a first movable member for receiving a manipulating force of the outer handle to rotate thereby and a second movable member rotated by the first movable member and the inner handle to release the latch under locked state.
In accordance with another object of the present invention, the first movable member and the second movable member are coaxially and rotably mounted on an identical rotary shaft, and the first movable member is arranged at one side thereof with a protruder contacting one side of the second movable member such that, when the first movable member is rotated, the second movable member is rotated in the same direction by the protruder while only the second movable member is rotated when the second movable member is rotated.